MPP announces expansion of mandate to hepatitis C and TB medicines

The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), the world's only voluntary licensing mechanism in public health, announced an expansion of its mandate to hepatitis C and tuberculosis medicines. The UNITAID Executive Board approved the MPP's proposals to improve access to both life-saving direct acting antivirals (DAAs) to treat hepatitis C and new and re-purposed medicines for tuberculosis. According to the agreement, MPP will work to ensure access to new treatments for multi-resistant and drug-susceptible TB. Tuberculosis is the leading cause of death for people living with HIV and killed 1.5 million people globally in 2014 alone. TB treatment has become more complex, particularly with the emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.